


Book 1: Runaways

by itz_me_E



Series: Avatar: The Youth’s Resistance [2]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: The Youth’s Resistance
Genre: Airbender Villain, Airbending & Airbenders, Avatar, Avatar State, Betrayal, Daggers, Dojo’s and Sifu’s, Earthbender Villain, Earthbending & Earthbenders, Firebender Villain, Firebending & Firebenders, Fluff and Angst, Getting to Know Each Other, Government, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Manipulation, Kidnapping, Living Together, Minor Original Character(s), Multi, Nonbenders, Nonbinary Character, Original Character(s), Plot Twists, Police, Running Away, Scary Character, Sparring, Stealing, Unsettling Character, Villains, Waterbender Villain, Waterbending & Waterbenders, anger issues, corrupt government, no beta we die like jet, no beta we die like men, they/them pronouns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 15,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28031244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itz_me_E/pseuds/itz_me_E
Summary: Book 1: The RunawaysAruna stared at the blinding yellow and orange cloths. The boy stared back, seemingly just as confused. Where did her school go?She blinks and the courtyard is gone. Her friends call out to her, asking if she’s ok.Weird.Today was fun, tomorrow wouldn’t be better.———————————————————————This is a completely original series! It has an instagram under the name of @avatartheyouthsresistance . I hope you enjoy!
Relationships: Aruna & Sakari, Kai & Aruna, Kai & Sakari, Kai & Yuna, Olia & Aruna, Olia & Kai, Olia & Sakari, Olia & Yuna, Sakari & Aruna, Yuna & Sakari
Series: Avatar: The Youth’s Resistance [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2093727
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

Walking swiftly through the halls was a girl with a mission. Passing the posters encouraging helping greaten the already great nation, she roles her eyes. She wonders why there are not more school club papers up there as well.

Opening the back door of the school, she walks into the courtyard and sees two girls, one with fluffy bangs and green clothing, the other with long curly hair in a half up do in a blue dress.

“Aruna! You made it!” says Yuna, her bangs bouncing slightly as she got up to greet Aruna.

“You’re late. I almost thought I’d have to search the school for you.” Sakari teased lightly, walking over to Aruna.

“Oh come on ‘kari, you know that if the school allowed running I’d be here before you.” Aruna said, as she stretched her arms. “You ready to play some airball?”

“I’ll be the ref!” Yuna yelled, earthbending a small column for her to judge on. 

Aruna and Sakari climbed up on top of the pillars and got into their stances. Aruna bent down and grabbed the ball.

“You ready Sakari? Too afraid you’re gonna get your butt whooped by this airbender?” Aruna yelled.

“Sure Aruna, sure. Just throw the ball!” Sakari said, giggling. 

Aruna straightened and held out her arms. She cupped the ball with air, reared back, and threw it with as much wind as she could. 

Sakari opened her water bottle and was able catch the ball with a water net. She quickly straightened and spiked the ball. The ball, so close to Aruna’s goal, was redirected with a big gust of wind. 

“That was too fast, sorry!” Aruna called as Sakari was able to stop the ball from almost knocking her off.

Sakari grinned and hit the ball up like she would a volleyball. She then used her water to slam the ball down, hitting Aruna right in the stomach and sending both through the goal. 

Aruna was blinking. One second, she was playing airball and the next there was this kid in front of her! She looked around, rubbing her sore head. She wasn’t in the school yard. Turning her attention back to the kid, she realized he was in really old airbending clothes. The yellow and orange blinded her, and she blinked hard as she turned away.

“Aruna! Are you ok?!” yelled Yuna. She was lowering her earth column and starting over towards her friend.

“Yeah Yuna, I’m ok. I think. My head sorta hurts? But I’m ok.” Aruna replied, looking around again. How did she get back here?

“You got hurt? Where? My aunt has been teaching me to heal, come over here.” Sakari said as she rushed over to Aruna. 

“Funny, I thought I was supposed to go to you.” Aruna joked as Sakari kneeled in front of her. 

Sakari responded with a hug and a kind “I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt you.” 

”Unlike the government.” Yuna joked.

“Shh, they might hear you.” Aruna said back, giggling. Sakari tensed and sighed at their antics.

Aruna’s head was healed through water, and the girls started to head home. One of them getting hurt was enough to persuade them to call it a day.

—————————————————————

Aruna was laying on her bed, full from her moms amazing sea prunes. Rhex, her brother, had decided to heat the prunes on his own. She was just surprised he didn’t burn it, like he does everything else. Seriously, who knew a firebender younger brother would get so crazy?

Aruna was brought out of her thoughts by a vibration at her side. Rolling over, she grabbed her phone. Yuna was calling. Weird, she usually texts before calling. Actually, she hates calling period. Worried, Aruna picked up.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Aruna they took them, I’m coming over can I come over?” Yuna’s wobbly voice answered.

“Yuna? Are you ok? Yeah you can come over just bend up to my window. Quiet though, don’t alert Kya. Should I call Sakari?” 

“Ok, please.” Yuna sniffled and then hung up. 

That wasn’t good. Aruna quickly called Sakari, who also decided to come over. Two minutes later, she looked out her window to see Yuna staring back at her, eyes puffy. Aruna opened the window, and Yuna crawled in. They hugged.

“Good job on not alerting the polar dog.” whispered Aruna, hoping to lighten the mood.

Yuna didn’t smile and they went into an awkward silence. Yet, there was another knock at the window and in came Sakari, who went straight to Yuna and crushed her in a hug. Aruna left the window open, maybe fresh air would be nice.

“What happened, Yuna?” asked Sakari gently. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.” This is why she’s been named the mom friend, Aruna thought.

Yuna took a deep breath. “My parents were taken away. They were caught not being part of protocol, and were taken away, They want me too. I didn’t know where to go Aruna I’m so sorry I-“ 

“They what?!” Aruna hissed, shaking of anger. They took Yuna’s parents. They took her parents. Aruna was pissed.

Sakari, on the other hand, kept comforting Yuna. “Why do they want you if you didn’t break protocol?” she asked. Protocol wasn’t to be broken, in her mind. The government was flawed, but they were doing their best. This though? It didn’t sit well with Sakari.

“It’s cause I knew that they broke it and didn’t tell. I think, I don’t know for sure.” Yuna replied. 

Silence took hold over the group. Sakari kept on comforting, Aruna kept on seething, Yuna started to cry again, and the sirens kept wailing. Wait, sirens?

The girls turned to the window, wide eyed. “I need to go!” Yuna said, starting to get up. She was grabbed by Aruna.

“No, we need to make them pay! They took your parents and they’re after you now!” Aruna argued.

“Aruna, we’re 3 girls, we won’t be able to do anything! Yuna needs to leave.” Sakari reasoned.

Aruna looked around her room and made her decision. She grabbed her bag from her floor and dumped it out, and started putting different things in.

“What are you doing?” Yuna asked, wide eyed. She watched Aruna grab her brush off the counter.

“We’re coming with!” Aruna said simply, grabbing 2 small blankets off her bed.

“We’re what?!” Sakari asked panicked, as Aruna looked around her room and decided to grab extra pairs of undergarments.

“We’re going with. Yuna needs help, we’re her friends. Why wouldn’t we go with?” Aruna asked, grabbing 3 water bottles from her secret stash. Rhex always took too many.

“Because that makes us enemies of the government?” Sakari hissed. 

“Look Sakari, we can help Yuna not get caught by making sure we leave no tracks. We can figure out the rest later.” Aruna said. 

The sirens grew closer, and now they could see the lights. Sakari groaned and said “Fine, but you’re getting us out of this.” while pointing at Aruna. She nodded.

Sakari used the pool water to make an ice slide, and jumped down. Yuna and Aruna followed, now running out of the backyard and climbing over the fence as Sakari put the water back. Kya was barking now.

There was a forest not too far, so they ran there. The 3 girls ran for a while, until Yuna almost tripped and fell. They looked at each other with knowing eyes. They were fugitives now, but they had each other.

That though wasn’t as comforting as they hoped.


	2. Chapter 2

The night was cold. Aruna hated the cold. She hadn’t learned how to regulate the air to keep her warm, much less 2 other people. She was glad for her quick thinking of grabbing the blankets, but there were only 2 and they were small so they can fit in her backpack. It was starting to sink in what she had got herself into.

“I’m sorry.”

“What for, Yuna?” Sakari questioned. Being the tallest, she was in the middle of their huddle pile.

“I brought you guys into my mess. What else?” She said, looking at the stars through the thick tree cover.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Yuna. We’re your friends, we stick together.” Aruna said stiffly, lifting up her leg to move pine needles out from her leg. 

Silence fell over the group. Aruna started realizing that she was, well, helpless. How was she going to get everyone out of this?

“Should we make a fire?” 

Aruna looked over. “The smoke would alert the police, ‘kari.” she replied tiredly.

“What’s so bad about that? You got us into this mess Aruna. I think the government would forgive us if we turned ourselves in.” snapped Sakari. At the tenseness of Yuna at her side, she sighed and said “I’m sorry. I just don’t agree with what we’re doing.”

“You made that pretty clear.” muttered Aruna.

A couple more minutes passed before it was broken again. This time, by a twig snapping. Yuna jumped at the noise. Footsteps were the following sound, leaves crunching over the weight. 

Aruna paled. Staying still would not help their situation if this was the police, so she started slowly and quietly packing up the blankets. By the time she zipped up her bag, she heard the earth rumbling.

“Scatter!” yelled Aruna, running deeper into the forest, Yuna at her side and Sakari at the back end.

It wasn’t exactly scattering, but it was better than nothing. They ran with heavy footsteps following and getting closer. Aruna looked around, not knowing what to do. How would she fix this?

Quickly, she turned around and did an air ending blast. Using her blast to also fuel her pivot, she started running again. She was now right beside Sakari. 

“Stop in the name of the law!” was shouted behind her. She kept running.

Suddenly, Sakari screamed as she fell. Aruna and Yuna looked back to see her foot frozen, and 3 officers surrounding her. One of the officers unfroze Sakari and started tugging her the other way. 

Aruna wasn’t thinking. She never does, shown by her decision to runaway with Yuna. This time though, it was to save Sakari. She didn’t know how, but she wasn’t letting them take her. Yuna didn’t move.

Aruna blasted air at an officer and watched as he fell down. She kept running to get to Sakari, when the second officer sent a fireblast her way. She yelped and ducked. Looking back at Sakari, she noticed she was so, so far now.

“Sakari!!” yelled Aruna, scrambling up to save her friend.

She was grabbed by the collar and pulled to the ground again. Looking back at Yuna, she realized that the other officer also had her. They were outmatched. Shaking, she looked back at the officer in front of her and realized, she lost. Tears were forming. This couldn’t happen. She couldn’t let this happen. 

Suddenly, everything was loud. Super loud. Aruna shut her eyes tight, and when she opened them, they were glowing. 

The air was going wild all around her. The officers had stopped taking Yuna and Sakari to look at her, and paled. 

“Unhand them. Now!” Aruna yelled, with what was immense power. 

She blew an air blast at the officer holding Yuna, knocking him against a tree. Turning around faster than a cheetahfly, she commanded the earth to engulf the officer that had Sakari. That officer had sunk in the earth to her head. 

Sakari was stunned, staring at her little friend who seemed to be the avatar. Like, the actual avatar. Yes, her eyes were glowing. This, could benefit Sakari. She ran back to Yuna and grabbed her, pulling her forward and deeper into the forest. 

Seeing that Sakari and Yuna was safe, Aruna felt herself let out a sigh of relief. Her feet were back on the ground again, and her knees felt weak. Where had the power she had before gone? 

Sakari and Yuna were there. They were saying something, yet Aruna couldn’t make out what. She blinked for just a little too long, and decided that she liked the darkness it brought. She opened her eyes and smiled at her two friends, who were now holding her up. They were so nice.

She closed her eyes and went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! I was impatient and decided that I would also post this chapter! That way, you could have a better idea of the story.  
> Here are the ways to speak the current characters names, based off the english alphabet:  
> Aruna: ah-rune-uh  
> Sakari: suh-car-E  
> Yuna: you-nuh


	3. Chapter 3

Fire and earth clash. It is a beautiful, and deadly sight. The 2 masters continue their dance regardless. Sometimes, the only words they say are ones with their bending. Other times, it is the insults that bring them joy. Their bantering reminds them of days long past, but that is ok. For now, this is all there is.

“Still angry at me because of the conference?” the tan man demanded as he sent an earth spike ahead of him.

“Just mildly annoyed.” said the other, dodging and sending a fireblast at the earthbenders feet, the firebenders long hair swinging as he did.

They continued for a while like this. Arguing back and forth. Complaining about their duties. Then, the firebender walked over to his water bottle and the fight was over.

“Running this country is hard.” 

“If only it was as easy as it is to beat you.” snarked the bald man, grabbing a towel to wipe his head. 

“I’ll singe your eyebrows off.” said the firebender, glaring. 

The earthbender laughed and started thinking. After a few minutes of silence, he said “The youth are taking to the media. They’re being very… critical of how we run our country.”

The firebender looked over. “They will learn.” he said and silence followed.

Not long after, laughter exploded in the room. In came a girl being chased by her brother, as well as their mother following behind tiredly.

“Daddy!” yelled the little girl as she jumped into the eartbenders arms. 

“Hi sweetheart” he replied as his son was running around the room, practicing his bending moves and giggling excitedly.

“They missed you” said the woman, smiling fondly at her husband. They kissed and told the boy to come over, it was time to leave.

The earthbender looked back at the firebender. “We have a conference tomorrow, I will see you there.”

The firebender nodded, cleaning his own stuff up as the others left. 

The firebender walked the campus of the capital. It was fascinating to him that, yes, this used to be Ba Sing Se. It really proves how important he was to be here. Heading to his house, he smiled as his reindeer dog jumped up and down as a greeting. The small creature was running around, a big ball of energy, as he entered the house.

After a shower, the firebender sat down with some fire noodles and turned on the news. The reporter was praising him for the way he was handling the schools, and praising the government in general. He grinned. This is how it should be. The reindeer dog curled up at his feet as the holographic TV flickered. He frowned. He would have to pay someone to fix that. He liked his luxuries to work properly.


	4. Chapter 4

The last few days, all she could think was “I’m the avatar.” It was exciting! The avatars were always the people she looked up to, yet here she is, a reincarnation of them. She was technically her idols. Aruna was ecstatic, to say the least.

She still had many other problems. Yuna and Sakari were happy for her newfound power, but it definitely brought more questions of “what should we do?”. Before, they needed to evade police and figure out how to survive while evading police, as well as figuring out how to make sure Yuna was safe before migrating back to society. Yet, with Aruna being the avatar, she convinced herself that she needs to take down the government. Sakari disagrees.

“Sakari, they almost took all of us to prison! Or juvie! Or wherever criminal kids go! Yuna can’t go back until it’s safe, and it won’t ever be safe unless we take down the oligarchy of Jiyayu!” ranted Aruna. She was standing on a log in the common “superhero” pose.

“We have to keep moving Aruna. And we can’t even take down the government! You just found out you’re the avatar, you can’t do much. I’m worried about this. We’re not thinking things through.” Sakari reasoned. 

Aruna groaned in response, while Yuna piped up and said “Well, what if we train her? I know earthbending, and you’re pretty good at waterbending ‘kari.”

That got Aruna bouncing with excitement. “Yes! You two can train me and then we can take out the government! I can see it now, we-“

“Aruna, we aren’t masters at our elements yet. There’s no way we could teach you enough.” Sakari said as she walked ahead. Aruna deflated.

“But,” she said, turning around, “dojo’s are a thing we have plenty of.” Sakari was grinning as Aruna started bouncing on the balls of her feet again.

“Really?! Dude yes! We have to find one now, that’s such a good idea ‘kari!” Aruna exclaimed as Yuna started giggling again. 

“Let’s go to the road.” Yuna suggested. “If we follow it yet still stay in the forest, we’re bound to find one eventually. They’re like gas stations.”

Aruna cheered and the group started to search for a road. Not long after, they found one. As they walked next to it, they debated whether to find new clothes. 

“I don’t think that would help too much.”Sakari said, and the other two felt inclined to agree.

As they stayed out longer in the wilderness, Sakari seemed to be. surprisingly, the most knowledgeable in cooking and plants. Aruna being a vegetarian definitely made things harder, but they worked it out. Yuna was able to make a knife for Sakari to skin the few things she caught, and almost threw up while handing it to her. Aruna comforted her, so glad that she decided to help Yuna. Later, if she saw Sakari pet a red bird before going back to sleep, she chalked it up to a dream.

—————————————————————

After 2 days, they finally found an earthbending dojo. Yuna and Aruna were absolutely and utterly excited. Masters were not allowed unless they were in the military, but dojo’s got people as close to mastery as the Oligarchy of Jiyayu would allow. Yuna and Aruna ran into the dojo as Sakari stayed behind in the forest, waving at them and telling them to be careful.

Upon entering the dojo, the two girls decided that this was the best decision ever. There were so many kids and teens practicing earthbending while a teacher watched at the front of the class. The only downside, was that Aruna wasn’t wearing green. It didn’t seem to be too much of a problem, because she had tan shorts and a white loose cut tank top. The only orange on her was her belt ribbon and her orange crop top to cover what the tank didn’t. Yuna, though, fit right in. Her v-cut green, long sleeve top worked amazingly with her dark brown flowy pants. She looks like a perfect earthbender.

The girls walked in and smiled at the teacher. Their training began when the gong rang. 

Aruna was going through the motions of earthbending. To be the earth, is to be unmoving said the teacher. She thought it was ridiculous, because here she was, moving the earth. Or, well, trying to. 

She looked at Yuna who seemed to be having the time of her life. She was doing the moves almost perfectly and moving the earth like it was water. Aruna was jealous of her, but she focused back into her own moves. She was the avatar, she’s got this.

Trying again, she tried to move the rock in front of her with a punch. It didn’t work. She breathed in deep and let it out. “Come on” she thought to herself. “You got this.” She tried the move again, and the rock went skittering forward a few inches. She grinned.

—————————————————————

The class lasted a few hours, and went Yuna and Aruna were released it was dark. They were talking back and forth, so excited because even if she didn’t master the moves, Aruna at least knew the moves and Yuna learned them. Yuna could teach Aruna, not to be a master, but to definitely be better than she was. 

They found Sakari and filled her in to everything. She was so proud of them both, it felt nice. Aruna ran forward.

“Sakari look! I’m a great earthbender now!” she said, stomping up a small pillar of rock.

“I’m glad Aruna! You and Yuna seemed to have learned a lot.” Sakari said, grinning.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to go back.” Yuna exclaimed.

That would be great, thought Aruna. They could probably stay a while, they did walk a long way. 

Her thoughts were interrupted by flashing lights and sirens. Again. She looked behind her and saw police cars. 

“You’ve got to be kidding!” exclaimed Aruna, already starting back k the forest. “How did they find us?!”

Running back into the forest, they settled down for the night. They would leave in the morning.

—————————————————————

This happened repeatedly. Aruna found an earthbending dojo? The police were there the next day. It was so annoying and frustrating and she didn’t know what to do. She could feel how scared Yuna was and how Sakari was always so tense. It wasn’t right, but she couldn’t do anything about it.

A scream jolted her out of her thoughts. 

“A spider! Landed on! My face!!” yelled Yuna.

Sakari and Aruna looked at each other and started cackling.

“Spirits I can’t- I can’t breathe!” Sakari gasped. 

“It’s not that funny.” Yuna grumbled, trying not to smile. 

Soon, the whole group was laughing. Throughout the two weeks of running, this felt so nice.

Later, they cleaned up and made sure there was no trace of them. It was routine. The closest dojo, this time, turned out to be a metal bending academy. Yuna and Aruna were so excited. Sakari seemed to be sick of being left behind, but it gave her time to gather food. 

Aruna ran towards the metal bending academy, pulling Yuna along.

“Come on Yuna, we can’t be late to our metal bending class! Oh my gosh we get to learn metal bending!” squealed Aruna. 

“I’m coming Aruna, slow down.” Yuna said, smiling.

Upon entering the academy, they were greeted with the teacher.

“Hello! I am your teacher, Sufi Beifong.” he said, smiling gently.

Aruna and Yuna looked at each other. Beifong? They hit the jackpot.

“Nice to meet you! I’m Aruna, and this is Yuna!” Aruna introduced, gesturing to Yuna, who waved shyly. 

Introductions passed around, they started the lesson. There were fewer students than other earthbending dojo’s, but that was ok. Aruna thought that they were just lucky to get in!

Sifu Beifong started to show the class how to move the metal in front of them.

“The metal in front of you is made from the earth you normally bend. It is just in smaller sizes, so you must feel deeper than the surface level, like so.” said Sifu Beifong, bending his piece of metal into a bow.

He showed the class how to bend the metal, even a little bit. Aruna was able to get it to crease while Yuna wasn’t able to get it at all. After 30 minutes of trying, Yuna was getting frustrated. Aruna was a beginner earthbender and she was getting this, why couldn’t she, Yuna thought.

Both girls stilled when sirens were being heard in the background. They shared looks of exhaustion and fear.

“Bye Sifu Beifong, but we must go!” yelled Aruna over her shoulder, as Yuna was already out the door. 

They ran to Sakari, and ran into the forest. Their food was left behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m excited for the next chapter! Are you guys ready?


	5. Chapter 5

Running for a whole night without food, Aruna decided, was the worst. All their food was left on the ground, never to be seen again. So, they would have to improvise. 

Before Aruna left her room, she had been able to grab some money. They had not used it yet because foraging for food had been sustaining them pretty well, even if they were more hungry than usual. It wasn’t much, though.

Sakari was the one to finally break. 

“We haven’t had a meal since last lunch! It’s been 24 hours and I have not been able to find a single berry, nut, or even just a squirrel, anywhere!” Sakari cried while pacing in front of Yuna and Aruna, who were both on the ground.

Some one’s stomach grumbled.

“This would be much easier if we just went home.” Sakari grumbled, slumping down on the ground. “A shower sounds so nice!” she said.

“We can’t go home.” Aruna snapped. “We can’t just leave Yuna.” 

Yuna looked through the trees in the distance. “We need a plan.” she said. “And maybe some food.” 

The other 2 girls nodded and Yuna started picking at the grass.

“I’m scared.” she whispered. “But I can’t go anywhere, not without my parents.” she said, throwing a big clump of grass at a tree.

“So, what?” Sakari asked. “We break into the prison and get them back?” 

Yuna shook her head. “We’re not skilled enough for that.”

“Then what should we do?”

“I don’t know, ‘kari. I don’t know.” Yuna replied, voice getting thicker near the end of the sentence.

Aruna hummed, laying on to her back and staring up through the tree covering.

“We need to think bigger.” she said after a couple moments. “How many people, just like Yuna, have gone through this?”

“Aruna,” Sakari warned.

“No! No, let me finish!” Aruna protested, rolling onto her side. “We can’t do anything, so we need to go to the center! To actually make a change, we just need to..” she trailed off.

“To what?” Sakari demanded.

Aruna glared. “To change the Oligarchy of Jiyayu. I’m the Avatar, right? They’ll have to listen to me, right?” 

Yuna turned to Aruna. “But they’re after you, too. How would that work?”

“Alright,” Sakari interrupted, standing up. “We need food. We’re planning too far ahead. Aruna, we need to use your money. We can find a gas station somewhere, right?”

“Sakari, we need to plan now-”

“We need food now, Yuna. It will take hours to find a gas station in the middle of nowhere!” Sakari huffed. “If we plan now, we won’t eat today. Food first, plan later.” Sakari said, getting up.

Yuna and Aruna glanced at each other. Sakari is right, even if they wanted to plan now.

—————————————————————

Aruna peaked out from behind a tree, looking around the bright lighted gas station. The big, white sign that said Ji-Stop-yu illuminated the whole area, as the sun had set an hour ago. Aruna thought about how glad she was that Sakari had made them get up and get moving as her stomach grumbled.

“We’ll keep watch.” her two friends had promised.

After clearing the area of no police, Aruna dusted herself off before going into the cheesily named station. Her mission was to get chips, water, and a small candy they could share. It was easily side tracked when she saw the slushie machine. 

After finding 3 bags of chips and buying 3 waters, she paid for a large slushie cup and started to head over to the machine. Everyone could share a slushie, she thought. It’s hot out anyways, being summer and all.

Upon finding the machine again, she saw a person who had platinum blonde hair and brown roots. They had a collared shirt on which was open to reveal a crop top underneath. Like Aruna, they also had shorts on, but black instead of tan. They also had white ankle military boots. Overall, Aruna liked their style. It would be ok to make a friend while being a wanted criminal, right?

“So, which slushie are you getting?” Aruna asked, bouncing up next to Boots. She decided to call them that until she learned their name. She really wanted their boots.

“Oh, I’m getting the red one. Cherry.” the person responded nonchalantly. Silence followed.

Aruna blinked, and sort of looked around a little before introducing herself. 

“Ooooo cherry. I think I’ll get that as well. I’m Aruna, by the way. What’s your name?” she asked, grinning over at Boots.

Boots looked confused, before replying “Kai.”

“Nice, nice. I like your style!” She thought Boots was probably a dumb nickname not to be said anymore.

Kai looked over as Aruna walked up to use the slushie machine. “Uh, thanks.” they said awkwardly as Aruna seemed to be starting to overfill her cup.

“Gaaahhh I didn’t think it was so fast.” Aruna panicked, which made Kai look at her quizzically with a small smile. Who was this girl?

Suddenly, a tall girl with a blue frilly shirt and white shorts ran up to Aruna. “We gotta go, ‘runa! Wait, is that a slushie?”

“Alright, ‘kari, lemme just get a straw!” Aruna yelped as Sakari pulled her away from the stand. She gave a quick wave to Kai as she was dragged out the store.

As the door opened, sirens filled the silence. Kai stares as the 2 girls meet up with a tanner girl, obviously earth kingdom. She has a long sleeve crop top on with baggy pants. 

Before they disappeared around the corner, Kai notices that Aruna left her bag. They grab it and run after the trio.

—————————————————————

“Alright,” Sakari breathed, “I think we’re ok now.” 

The 3 girls were huffing and puffing from running into the forest.

“I’m so hungry,” Yuna complained, looking over to Aruna. 

“So, where’s the food?” Sakari asked with a smile. She was hungry too.

Aruna paled.  
“You have got to be kidding me!”

“No, I’m Kai.” a voice followed.

The 3 girls jumped and whipped around to see Kai, holding their bag of food and a slushie. Silence followed as they stared and Kai shifted under their gaze.

“You.. followed us.” Aruna stated.

Kai nodded. “You’re running from the police, sort of seems fun.”

They just stared.

“Speaking of which, I have your food. You forgot it earlier.” they said, holding the bag out.

“Thank you so much!” Aruna exclaimed, recovering from her shock and taking the bag. “Now we can eat!” she grinned nervously, turning around.

Sakari looked between Kai and Aruna, trying to comprehend what was even going on. She sighed.

“You can’t stay.” she stated, boring her blue eyes into Kai’s gold ones.

No one objected.

“But, thank you for the food.” she said. Sakari turned to Yuna, “We need to make a fire.”

Yuna groaned.

“I can help with that.” Kai said. “I’m a firebender.”

The group stared. Firebenders weren’t the most common in Jiyayu.

“Sakari..” Aruna looked at Sakari.

“Aruna, no. We can’t! There’s enough attention with the 3 of us already.” she reasoned.

“Firebenders are really rare, though!” Aruna begged.

“She has a point.” whispered Yuna. 

“Not you too.” Sakari whined.

Kai stood, watching. “I was gonna run away anyways.” they shrugged. “That’s what I was doing at that station.” 

The girls stared. Aruna started bouncing excitedly.

“Aru-”

“Welcome to the team!” Aruna yelled, throwing her arms up. “I needed a firebending teacher anyway.” she grinned. 

Giggling, she bounded over to Kai. “How good are you?”

Kai, who looked a little confused with the sudden closeness, responded “I’ve been trained pretty well. Not a maser though. Why? Aren’t you an airbender?”

“Mhmm. I’m an airbender. I might also be a firebender, though.” she cheekily replied.

“Aruna!” Sakari hissed, eyes going back and forth between Kai and Aruna while Yuna was giggling at the small scene.

“That’s not possible.” Kai said, eyes a little too wide. “Only the avatar can do that.”

Aruna grinned from ear to ear, waiting for the realization.

Kai blinked, sighed, and ran a hand through their hair. “You’re the avatar and I’m an idiot.”

Aruna started cackling and ignored the feeling of this being way too familiar. Yuna snorted and Sakari was trying not to lose her mind.

“Both.. are true.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did y’all catch that reference?  
> Anyways! Kai is pronounced k-i. I think, i’m really bad at the pronunciation spellings. Kai is non-binary! It won’t be specifically mentioned in the story.  
> 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!!!
> 
> TW: The character introduced here is heavily implied to be an abuser / manipulator. Please don’t read if that will harm you!
> 
> There will be a safe summary in the end notes if you cannot read this chapter.

This chapter is meant to be scary and unsettling. Trigger Warnings are in the beginning notes. 

Footsteps echoed down a long hall, rhythmically.

Tap, tap tap.

The bright yellow and orange bring a contrast to the dark walls with even darker patterns. The robes swayed as the thing wearing them came to a halt, opening a door. 

In the room is a mirror, which shows a face that grins. The eyes examine the mirror, calculating. Everything must be in place, but there’s one thing that isn’t. A smudge in the corner.

In a blur, the man storms out the room, slamming the door behind him. He leaves and rushes to his destination, seething. The footsteps are louder this time. They slap hard against the floor.

Slap, slap, slap.

A door whooshes open and silence follows as the red faced man looks around. There’s no one there, not unless he counts the sudden ping by his phone in his pocket. He yanks it out of his pocket and hurls it. He stares, breathing heavily. He takes a deep breath and rubs his hand on his neck while walking over to his phone. It is fine, amazingly. He smiles, walking out of the room again. 

He has a meeting he cannot miss and he is never late. 

—————————————————————

After the meeting, he is wandering again. Everything went well, he muses. He made sure everything was perfect, as always. He was the problem solver after all.

Now, for the previous problem.

He turns into a room, full of people. He finds the girl he was looking for and kneels down to her. She stared from her chair.

The room quiets.

“There was a smudge on my mirror.” His grin was strained, showing more teeth than needed.

She stares, swallowing. 

“Fix it for me, will you?” he says, straightening. He keeps her gaze the whole time.

She nods, blinking rapidly as she rushes out of her chair and scrambling to the door. She keeps eye contact all through her scrambling.

“Yes! Of course, sir. Right away.” she squeaks out.

Her footsteps are rushed down the hall as he smiles after her.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

He wonders what will be for dinner as he walks away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fairly short chapter helped introduce our third villain, dressed in colorful airbender robes. He has a short temper yet is somehow the peacemaker in meetings.  
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Also, I plan on updating every other day after this so I have a set schedule. Just a heads up!


	7. Chapter 7

Sakari could not tell if she liked Kai.

On one hand, they were super useful in lighting fires and weren’t vegetarian, so they didnt need a bunch more berries. On the other, they had given very little personal information out.

For example, when she asked why they had run away, they had replied that they “wanted to piss off their parents.”. 

So, yeah, Sakari didn’t know what to think. Plus, they were completely agreeing with Yuna and Aruna about changing the government. 

“Changing the Oligarchy would be great! Heck, what would be even better is getting rid of the Oligarchy once and for all!” Kai exclaimed, throwing their hands up with a small smile.

Sakari decided she didn’t like Kai too much.

“I brought that up a small whil-” Aruna started when Sakari cut her off.

“Aruna! Earlier, you practiced earthbending with Yuna, right? Well, we’re near a river right now, so maybe I can teach you a few moves!” she offered, smiling a bit too wide. 

She didn’t like this conversation.

“Yes! Waterbending time! It’s so hot.” Aruna grinned, already taking her tank top off. Her orange crop top really matched with her orange highlighted hair, especially since her hair was black. 

“Race ya there, ‘kari!” she yelled. 

“Wha-, bu-, hey!!” Sakari stuttered as Aruna started running. “Cheater! I wasn’t ready!” she called.

Running down, she struggled to take her shirt off. She stripped down to her bra and underwear and jumped in, laughing. As soon as she felt the water, she screamed.

“It’s so cold!” she shrieked, standing in the cold water that came to her waist. Her long brown hair was soaked and so, so cold on her back.

Aruna’s teeth were already chattering as she stood in the water which came past the middle of her stomach. She laughed and put her hair up in a bun as Yuna and Kai were watching from the bank of the river. Kai took off their red collared shirt and took off their boots before joining them in the river and sitting down.

“Alright, you ready, ‘runa?” Sakari asked.  
“Yes! I’ve been waiting for you to teach me something.” Aruna replied, smirking.

Sakari rolled her eyes.

“First, you need a steady stance, but one that can easily transition fluidly.” she instructed.

Sakari watched as Aruna went into an earthbending stance before loosening her knees and rolled her shoulders back. She looked to Sakari for confirmation, and Sakari flipped her hand back and forth while walking over.

“You need to be a bit taller, don’t go down so low.” Sakari corrected as she started to move Aruna’s arms. “Your arms need to be by your side and not so far part, but not that close either.”

Aruna nodded as Sakari let go. “Are we going to make a wave first?”

Sakari smiled and nodded. “The current isn’t too strong today,” she mentioned as she went into her own stance, “so we can easily practice the most basic move.”

Aruna nodded giddily. Sakari could see the excitement coming off her in waves.

She started to move her arms back and forth, and watched as the water did the same. “It is a rhythm shown by focus and control of emotions. You let go once and-”

A spike of ice went up out of the water, crumbling a split second later as the river ate it up. “That happens.” Sakari said sheepishly.

“Sounds like firebending, but with less breathing.” Kai remarked.

“Huh, I guess you’re right.” Sakari said slowly. “But waterbending is more flowy and more about being able to move and redirect.” she thought out loud.

“Can I try the move, now? Or are you going to keep the avatar waitin- AH” 

Sakari recoiled her water whip with a snort. “Maybe don’t brag about being the avatar.” she lightheartedly scolded. She was met with a “hmph” from Aruna.

She showed the move again, and they got to work.

—————————————————————

They had practiced for 2 hours. Yuna had even joined Kai, sitting on the side of the bank. Sakari heard her laugh whenever Kai had a sarcastic remark. She was unsure if it was cause the remark was funny, or if it was because Aruna seemed about to explode.  
Aruna had barely made any progress with this one move. Her waves weren’t bad, per se, but they were small. Sakari could tell she was getting frustrated. So, after another small wave from the annoyed avatar and a hand near Kai’s mouth, Sakari braced herself.

“I almost felt that one!” Kai teased, smiling. Yuna lost it and started to cackle, which made Kai start chuckling. This comment was lighthearted, but it wasn’t taken as such.

Sakari saw Aruna stiffen and backed away. Oh, they had messed up. She watched Yuna blink in confusion at her friend that had turned around. 

Kai and Yuna didn’t have any time to move.

Aruna splashed them with the biggest wave she had made that day.

“It’s! On!” Kai yelled. Sakari watched as fire engulfed their palms.

Yuna and Kai turned to each other. “Splash War!” they screamed, running deeper into the river.

Sakari was then splashed with a wave. She looked at Aruna, who was currently laughing her head off.

Sakari’s mouth was wide open. It soon turned into a wicked grin as she said “You better run.”

Soon, the 3 friends and the new acquaintance were having a splash war. Water was flying everywhere and Kai was surprisingly good at this? Sakari decided that maybe they were not too bad. 

She splashed her new friend, and the 4 of them went on.

Insults and threats were thrown around super carelessly. It was so invigorating. Plus, Aruna was making better waves than she had all day! Sakari guessed that everyone learned different and decided her teaching skills weren’t a problem. The way she taught might’ve been, thought. That’s a problem for later.

“Sakari, no!” Yuna yelled, giggling as Sakari loomed over her.

“You can’t escape me!” She loomed over Yuna, failing to hold in her laughter as she splashed Yuna. 

Sakari whipped around to Aruna, who was now staring at her and the 2 idiots behind her. The 2 idiots who had no clue that Aruna had her planning face on. Sakari paled.

Aruna sent one of the biggest waves Sakari has ever seen. Only once, by a master waterbender, had she seen a wave this big. She screamed.

The 3 friends were engulfed by the wave and came up coughing and laughing. Aruna was doubled over, the water moving as if it was laughing with her. Wasn’t water Sakari’s element, Sakari sulked.

“Alright Aruna,” Yuna said, “you won.” Her statement was followed by 2 nodding heads, both still giggling.

“Woohoo!” Aruna threw her head and arms up and spun around. She whipped to Kai and pointed at them. “You felt that one, huh!” 

Kai laughed. “I did. Remind me not to tease you so hard.” they said, looking as sorry as Sakari had ever seen them. 

She’s only known them 2 days, though, so she guessed it wasn't too big of a deal.

Aruna nodded. “Maybe when we fight you should, it seems to be a great motivator.” she thought out loud. She extended her hand to Kai and helped them up.

Yuna got up giggling. “I haven’t had that much fun in so long.”

Sakari gave a small smile. Everything would be alright.

Besides, she’s sure they would be able to be home soon. She’d miss Kai, though.

—————————————————————

Sakari grabbed a paper and pen. She wrote of a day full of training and fun, along with getting to know the layers of Kai better. She mentioned the river and how it was so beautiful and how she missed home so much.

At the bottom, she signed her name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m trying to make chapters longer and do different POV’s because we have different characters. The main POV will mainly be Aruna, though.  
> Hope y’all liked this chapter and any criticism is welcome!


	8. Chapter 8

Aruna was hungry. They had finally found the edge of the forest, but that also meant no more foraging or hunting for food. Which is probably why everyone was in a cranky mood.

“We need food, Sakari.” Kai hissed.

“We can’t just steal, Kai.” Sakari snapped back.

Yuna seemed to shrink at them bickering. Aruna’s eyes narrowed. She was the avatar, the bringer of peace. Time to make these 2 stop fighting.

“Hey!” Aruna interrupted. 

“What?!” the 2 snapped.

“Shut up, will you?! We can’t forage anymore so we have to steal. Our money isn’t enough to even get water!” Aruna snapped back.

“Says Ms.Slushie” Sakari grumbled.

Aruna tensed and got red. Yuna jumped in before a yelling match could start.

“Aruna’s right, even if she spent our money. We need to get food and there’s a supermarket over there.” she said quietly.

Kai and Sakari nodded as Aruna glared over at Yuna. She had it handled! She grumbled and followed Yuna as she headed to the store.

Inside the store, there were a lot of people. Which was a blessing and a curse. 

“Alright, me and Yuna will get some fruit while you guys get.. whatever you guys need.” Aruna said. “Got it?” 

A chorus of hesitant confirmation went off, so she grabbed Yuna and went down the aisle.

“You think that was the best pairing, Aruna? They sort of fight a lot.” Yuna questioned, freeing her arm and walking next to Aruna.

“What? Yeah, but maybe it will bring them closer together.” Aruna shrugged. Why can’t Yuna just take her word? She was the avatar, she knew what she was doing.

Didn’t she?

She shook that thought away. Of course she knew. She had to. She looked forward and saw apples and some peananas.  
“There we go! Everyone likes those, right?” Aruna asked, gesturing to the fruits.

Yuna blinked. “Yeah, but Aruna-”

“Alright then! Keep watch.” Aruna directed, marching forward. She has this in the bag.

Grabbing the peananas and apples, she stuffed a couple in her tank top and tried to cover it up with a bit of her orange belt. She was too skinny for this. She walked as calmly as she could to Yuna. 

“Your turn.” she said leaning against the pole that Yuna was on.

Yuna’s eyes widened. “What? I can’t do that. That’s stealing!” she panic whispered, looking around.

“You think I want to do this either? No! But I’m hungry.” Aruna reasoned. “Please? You got this!”

She didn’t notice how Yuna’s panic was starting to get worse. Yuna breathed in and out, looked at Aruna, and nodded.

“Thank you.” Aruna whispered.

Yuna shook as she walked and grabbed 2 apples, which she could hide in her long sleeves. She walked back to Aruna, shaking. 

“Let’s go.” Aruna said.

As they walked, they saw 4 colors of the 4 elements hung on the wall above the registers. Each with the names of the 4 leaders of the Oligarchy above them. For the first time, Aruna felt hatred more than annoyance towards them. Maybe she should take them down, like Kai said.

The 4 leaders were in the order of the avatar cycle. Ronoju, fire. Anieran, air. Koa, water. Twohk, earth. Propaganda was all over the school for them. She wondered why she didn't hate them more before. Maybe because she had never been directly affected. That would mean she had definitely been naive, but wasn't everyone?

Sakari seemed to even like the Oligarchy, through all this. Aruna couldn't fathom why. She wondered how Kai didn’t, even before all this mess.

Sighing, she started to the door, Yuna directly behind her. She was keeping her face down, so close to Aruna that Aruna could hear her breathing. She was glad she was here to protect her. 

Once outside, she heard yelling inside the store. Yuna and her exchanged a glance. Then, Sakari and Kai were running past them like the wind. Aruna thought she was the airbender! She and Yuna ran after them, weaving into the small patch of forest before coming out on the other side to a neighborhood.

Ducking behind different houses and losing the people took forever, but they finally found a place where they could hide. Panting, the 4 friends looked at each other. Kai and Sakari started laughing. They were both doubled over gasping for air, which made Yuna and Aruna start giggling.

They had made it.

After everything had calmed down, they distributed food and Aruna was able to ask what happened.

“Kai is..” Sakari trailed off smiling.

“An idiot?” Kai finished, snorting. “I dropped rice because it wasn’t secure in it’s hiding place.”

“I told you not to put it in your crop top!” Sakari laughed. “But you insisted because you could button up your shirt!”

“Not like your idea of pretending to be pregnant was better!” Kai shot back.

Aruna and Yuna looked at each other. They had missed so much. 

Aruna looked back at her laughing friends. Well, at least one part of her plan worked well. They seemed to be getting along better.

At least she was good at fixing relationships, she thought jokingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> INNER CONFLICT! Heck yeah!
> 
> Name pronunciation:  
> Ronoju (roh-no-zu)  
> Anieran (uh-near-an)  
> Koa (koh-uh)  
> Twohk (two-ohk)
> 
> Update on the story: I have finished Book 1 and am now working on character cards and a cover! These will start to be posted on my instagram once chapter 12 comes out. I am so excited to see what y’all think of the finale!


	9. Chapter 9

Going across the city by using the few rural areas around was hard, Kai thought. They had been travelling for forever and just could not get out.

In reality, it had only been 2 days.

Hunched in a corner in an abandoned house were the 4 friends, sheltering themselves from the rain. They couldn’t make a fire, so cuddling was the best option. Kai was starting to think that the world hated them. Besides, it wasn’t even that cold. It was summer, after all!

“I am not going to join you guys.” Kai narrowed their eyes. 

“What? But you must be cold since we have these 2 blankets.” Aruna said, flabbergasted. 

“Physical contact isn’t my thing.” they stiffly replied. They were not going over there.

“Bu-” Aruna started. Kai cut her off.

“Besides, I’m a fire bender.” they said, hearing the wood creak as they sat down near the wall. “I can warm myself.”

Running a hand through their hair, Kai brought their legs up. Hugging their knees, they asked “What’s tomorrow’s plan?”

The 3 girls looked at each other. 

“There’s a lot of bending dojos around.” Yuna quietly said. She shifted, then continued. “Maybe we could let Aruna train more.”

Aruna nodded. “I think I did see a sign for an earthbending dojo not too far from here. You and ‘kari could both stay and hide out at this place!” She said, gesturing to the house.

Suddenly, she was giggling. “The K’s can stay while we get our training on.” Aruna joked, nudging Yuna, who smiled too.

Kai sighed as Sakari asked another question. “What would we do all day?” she asked, tilting her head.

“You guys could clean the fireplace! We don’t need food or anything, and heat would be nice.” Aruna remarked, the others nodding along.

Good enough for now, Kai thought. Regardless of how crazy this situation was that they got themself in, Kai was glad they were with new friends. 

Even if they were all insane.

—————————————————————

Aruna and Yuna had left the house early, leaving Kai and Sakari to clean. An expertise that Kai sucked at. Great.

“Are you.. gonna help?” Sakari questioned. She was currently using her waterbending to pick up all the dirt on the floor.

Kai rolled their eyes. “Yeah, just trying to see what I can do.” they said while starting to look around.

Silence descended upon the two while Kai looked around. They could start to get stuff out of the fireplace, they guessed. It was full of metals, glass, dirt, and wood.

As they started cleaning, they heard Sakari start humming an old airbender song. They paid no mind, even if it was a little distracting. 

“Hey, where’s our trash can?” Kai called, picking up some sticks.

“Uhhh.. I’ll look around.” Sakari said. Kai heard the wood creak as she walked to explore the house.

Kai stared after, then looked back to the fireplace, looked back to where Sakari went, and looked back again. They frowned.

“What am I supposed to do until then?” they grumbled, as they grabbed even more sticks. 

Through digging around to get sticks only, Kai scratched their hand. Hissing, they brought their hand back. Lighting a flame on the end of their pointer finger, Kai looked deeper into the fireplace. Why was there rusty, old barbed wire in a fireplace? 

Kai grabbed it carefully and brought it out, setting it on the ground. Great, just great. Not like this was suspicious. No, not at all.

Grabbing the bridge of their nose, they realized their finger was bleeding. They then looked back to the barbed wire and groaned. It was rusty and they had gotten scratched. They had their tetanus shot not too long ago, but Kai had no idea if that meant that they were safe this time. Kai didn’t see Sakari come back.

“Alright, we now have a trash can! Isn’t that grea- Kai?! What happened?” she questioned, putting the trash can, which was actually just a bucket, down.

“Barbed wire.” Kai shrugged, watching as Sakari got her water and a small glow emitted from her hands. Kai watched as she healed their hand. 

“You should really be more careful! I don’t know your parents,” Kai stiffened, “but surely they taught you not to go grabbing barbed wire! Rusty barbed wire by the looks of it. Spirits, I leave you alone for one second-” Sakari’s ramble was cut off by two panting girls slamming the door open.

Kai and Sakari stared as Aruna yelled “Time to go!” and Yuna started packing their stuff. 

“What?” Sakari asked. “But it’s not even the afternoon yet! Heck, lunch is in an hour!” she exclaimed, dropping Kai’s hand to go help pack.

“No time to explain other than we were recognized by someone from the store.” Aruna quickly replied, grabbing Kai and dragging them to the door.

Kai yanked their arm back and asked “Doesn’t that tell us all we need to know?” while smirking.

Aruna stuck her tongue out as she looked back to make sure Sakari and Yuna were close behind them. 

Kai realized that they got their hand scratched for nothing as they dodged police for the rest of the day.

—————————————————————

The next two dojos were the same. They found a place to hide and either the dojo was run with police within the day or the dojo had someone that recognized them. From wanted papers or from their Shopping Stealing Spree, or the SSS as Kai called it because it seems to be famous, no one could tell.

At least Aruna didn’t get hit with a shoe on her way out of either of those. That was a hilarious story. Kai wondered if they had ever laughed that hard before.

There was one more dojo they were willing to try. Slightly because they didn’t know how close the next town was, and partially because they were always getting found out. This time, though, they were all coming so they could make a quick get away.

Did Kai think this plan was stupid? Yes. Did they also see the look in Aruna’s eyes when she said “One last dojo.”, daring them to challenge her? Also yes.

So here they were. Sitting next to Sakari as Aruna and Yuna practiced their earthbending. Sakari kept commenting how good they had both gotten, but Kai just shrugged. It was boring. They weren’t even sparring! 

A door opened and closed to the right of them both. Kai looked over and peeked into the room. Curiosity killed this cat, but satisfaction gave it back, Kai thought. With what they saw, it was definitely worth being nosy.

Kai knew that this place had a slight military feel to it. The structure being so modern and the Sabertooth mooselion as their logo screamed volumes at them. Especially since the Sabertooth mooselion was the national animal for Jiyayu.

“Sakari,” Kai whispered while poking her. “They have scrolls.”

Sakari’s eyes widened. Only the military were allowed to be masters, hence why only military personnel had scrolls. Since this was a military based dojo, well, here were the scrolls.

Sakari and Kai looked at each other, almost communicating telepathically. They needed those scrolls.

Kai nodded. They nudged Sakari to get up, hopefully she knew to create a distraction. 

Sakari blinked. Looked all around then back at Kai. She seemed to deflate before getting up with a determined look on her face. Kai gave a silent cheer before scooting down to the chair closest to the door. 

Was this dangerous? Of course. Kai loved danger though.

They sat back and watched Aruna and Yuna earthbend a disc out of a boulder and throw it, a classic probending move. That could be useful.

After a minute or two, they heard crying. Looking over, alarmed, they saw Sakari. She was crying about not knowing where her brother is, that she and him were walking outside the dojo when she saw him last. The 2 Sifu’s teaching the class walked over where Sakari was crying to the receptionist. Perfect.

Kai silently and quickly snuck to the door and opened it. Quietly, they peeked in. The scrolls were on the side, not too close to the door, but not far either. Kai needed to grab as many as they could along with getting out the window, because they knew the room they were just in would not work as an exit.

Kai moved quickly in, grabbing 5 scrolls total. Enough to occupy Aruna and Yuna for a while, but not enough to cause them to drop any. Shooting up, they started to the window while blowing the hair out of their face.

Their parents would never let them do this, they thought gleefully.

Kai unlocked the window and tried to push it open. One hand was not working, so they put the scrolls down and tried to lift with both hands. Keyword, they tried.

Kai now felt dread. They had nowhere to properly hide the scrolls without them making noise. They were paper, and paper was noisy. Kai looked around, looking for anything to use to get this sticky window open.

Then, Kai groaned. They were so stupid! Shoving a hand down their shorts on the left side, they felt around their thigh before unhooking their first and only love. Kai grinned as they saw their dagger in their hand in perfect shape.

A shout came from outside the room. Kai didn’t hesitate as they pried open the window with their knife. 

There’s no time to put the knife back in it’s sheath, so Kai just grabbed the scrolls, crawled out the window, and jumped.

They landed a bit unsteadily, but caught their balance and darted to the forest. Kai was grinning like a madman. 

When they finally caught up with the others, Kai had to explain that, “No, I did not steal the knife. It is mine.”

After putting it away, Kai was squished in a hug by Aruna. Kai was surprised that nobody heard them yelling at her to get off. 

Yeah, friends weren’t too bad.


	10. Chapter 10

“Look, Mrs.Tora always made the best sea prunes. But shh, don’t let my mom find out.” Aruna giggled, leaning farther into the circle of friends.

Yuna nodded, a small smile on her face. Sakari’s mom did make the best sea prunes, and Yuna didn’t even like sea prunes! 

“Now I’m going to have to meet your mom.” Kai said. “I hate sea prunes. If she can make them as good as Aruna says, I’ll finally like them.” Yuna snorted.

“I don’t like them either.” she mentioned.

“Yeah but you love Mrs.Tora’s, so checkmate.” Aruna said triumphantly, crossing her arms. Yuna giggled.

She watched as her friends went back and forth between their favorite and least favorite meals, saying whether she disliked or liked them. It was hilarious to her that they were so passionate about not liking broccolini. Yuna rolled her eyes. It wasn’t that bad, and she wasn’t even the vegetarian in the group!

She looked back to the fire and listened to it crackle. Summer nights were unbearable, and it didn’t help that Jiyayu was never able to decide whether it would stay warm. Yuna sighed, looking back up to the stars. She was tired, but one day she’d get to see her parents again.

This would all be worth it.

A mosquito bit her arm again and she almost let out a groan. Maybe it wouldn't be, she joked to herself.

Yuna turned her attention back to the conversation and waited for an opening. She could mention it was getting late in a few minutes.

—————————————————————

Walking. They were always walking, Yuna thought. Her legs were so tired and she was completely done with any and all bugs. They were starting to get too a bit more hilly areas, so walking up and down was not helping. All in all, when Yuna saw a small town, she jumped at the chance. 

“We should stay in this town for the night.” Yuna said. “I’m tired.”

The others looked at each other. Kai looked up to the sky with a hand over their eyes.

“I mean, it does seem to be around 2 o’clock, and we did stay up pretty late last night.” Kai thought out loud while Aruna seemed to be looking in the direction that they were going, unsure.

“I think it’s a great idea! Plus, we haven’t been in a town for around a week. Maybe we could get some snacks.” Sakari reasoned, nodding. Yuna was already walking across the road before she had even finished.

“Woah! Wait up, Yuna!” Aruna called, snapped out of her thinking.

Conversation started up again as they looked for a place to put their stuff for a couple hours so they could check out the town. Once they found a place in the woods, Yuna set her stuff down and stretched. It felt so good to not have a bag on her shoulders. She breathed in and smiled. 

“Alright! Now that we’re set up we should head into town. We’ll look around the store and hopefully not get caught. I’m stealing Sakari, though. Sorry Kai!” Aruna finished, giggling as Kai just rolled their eyes. 

Kai looked over to her and she smiled. They nodded back. Man, Kai doesn’t smile too much, do they?

Yuna shook that thought and started walking next to Sakari. This conversation topic was home. She didn’t exactly feel like talking about that yet. She sighed. 

“You got this, Yuna.” she whispered. She kept her head up. She can do this.

—————————————————————

She could not do this. Aruna, the girl that seemed to have no limits on energy, had found another dojo. Another one. Yuna was starting to think she had amnesia or something, because she clearly didn’t remember what happened the last few times! 

Yuna took a deep breath in and out. It’s ok though. It’s fine. This dojo was not a bending one, and they would leave the following afternoon anyways. Besides, they needed to know how to fight without their bending. It would help when they didn’t have any water or earth, so Yuna kept her negative thoughts to herself.

At least all her friends were learning together. Even if Sakari didn’t seem to want to at all. Even if Aruna was getting on her last nerve by having them always go to a dojo where they always end up running through the night. Even if Kai seemed way too happy about fighting and also had a knife. It was fine. Her friends were here to help her. That’s all she needed.

She started fidgeting with her shirt as she looked at the dojo. The class started at 5 o’clock, which means dinner would be a late one. Which wasn’t too bad. She just was nervous. Yuna watched as her 3 friends looked at each other and then started to the dojo. She followed.

Upon entering, Yuna watched as Kai seemed to be in awe of the place.The place was huge and seemed to have 2 stories with a balcony! The thing that seemed to catch Kai’s attention was the plethora of locked weapons on the wall. The dojo had many colors, symbolizing all four nations and how they are connected. They also had hints of purple, a rare yet beautiful color as it was not for any element.

“So. Cool.” Aruna breathed. Yuna felt herself nodding as well. It was amazing.

“Welcome! I’m Tyki, the receptionist here. Can I help you?” a woman in gray asked.

Aruna nodded. “Hi, nice to meet you! Me and my friends were wondering if we could join this class and the one tomorrow morning.” she replied, a smile on her face.

Yuna watched as the receptionist nodded. “The first class is always free, but any class after that costs about 20 yuans monthly for each person.” she responded.

Yuna had totally forgotten about paying for things. It’s not like they had paid for much in a while, but coming up with 80 yuans to pay for a single class was impossible and stupid. It’s only one class!

She watched as Aruna hummed thoughtfully. “Is there any way we could pay for it in a different way? Like, I don’t know, helping clean the dojo? Our parents don’t have much money to actually have a membership yet.” Aruna said, leaning over the counter.

Mrs.Tyki blinked. “I would have to ask my manager,” she said thoughtfully, “but I could have an answer for when you come back tomorrow.” she finished, smiling.

“Thank you so much!” Aruna bounced.

“Yeah, thank you.” Yuna added quietly as the other two hurriedly followed.

She nodded and said “Well, class is about to start! I suggest you hurry in.”

The group of 4 nodded and headed into the dojo. 

There were 5 students already inside, talking amongst each other. Yuna looked at each of them and promptly decided that this would probably be exactly like school. We have our group, and they have ours. She sighed. This was gonna be a long 2 hours.

“You ok?” Sakari asked, nudging her with a concerned look.

“Yeah, just ready to start this.” Yuna replied. She still didn’t like where Sakari stood with the government, but, then again, Sakari was here. Helping her. That’s all Yuna could ask for. “Thanks, ‘kari.” she whispered.

Sakari nodded and turned back to Aruna and Kai, who were already bouncing ideas off each other on fighting moves. Well, more like Aruna was imagining impossible moves and Kai was correcting her. Yuna giggled at the sight.

She watched as a tall man walked out onto the floor and the 5 students went and grabbed some mats. Yuna tugged on Aruna’s tank top and tilted her head over at the students. Aruna nodded and told the others that they all needed to get a mat as Yuna walked to get one.

As she walked over, she realized one of the girls was handing out the mats. Yuna put on a smile.

“Hi! I’m Olia.” the girl said. “Are you new?” she asked as she gabe Yuna a mat.

Yuna nodded. “I’m new. I’m here with my friends.” she replied as her said friends walked up.

“Well, nice to meet you all!” Olia exclaimed with a smile, her curly ponytail bouncing. 

“Hi!” Aruna smiled back. “I’m Aruna, this is Sakari, Kai, and Yuna!” she introduced, bouncing as she grabbed her mat from Olia. 

“This place is nice.” Kai remarked. 

Olia nodded, grinning. “This place is the best.” Her green eyes shined while looking around the room again.

Yuna smiled. 

“So do we just place a mat down?” Sakari asked. 

Olia nodded, humming a confirmation before taking her own mat to the floor.

Yuna thought that maybe, just maybe, she could make a new friend again after all. She placed her mat and sat down, watching as her newest Sifu introduced himself.

—————————————————————

After stretching and being shown the proper defense mechanisms for blocking, each of the newest students were paired up with an old one to practice their blocking. Meaning, Yuna and her friends were split up. Also meaning, Yuna was alone.

Plus side? She was paired with Olia, the nice girl that gave her a mat. Yuna was nervous, but oddly excited. She could do this.

Yuna dropped into the stance she just learned, arms up near the face in fists. Number one rule of fighting, always protect the face. It was a little similar to earthbending, she guessed, with how stiff and unmoving her arms had to be.

She blocked a punch that came her way.

“So, do you know how to bend anything?” Olia asked, tilting her head.

Yuna dodged a kick at her feet as she thought of a previous conversation with Aruna. “To throw people off our trail, we should totally pretend to not be benders!” she had said. 

“I’m not. My parents are earthbenders, though.”

Another punch was thrown her way. Sifu Jean had said to have a punch kick pattern, so that was nice. She blocked the punch.

“Are you a bender?” she asked after a moment.

Olia shook her head. “Nope.” She then threw another kick at Yuna, on her left this time. It connected, but she had done it lightly. 

Yuna stumbled and caught herself.

“Sorry!” Olia sheepishly apologized, hand rubbing her neck. 

“I should’ve blocked it, it’s ok.” Yuna said with a small smile.

Olia smiled back.

Throughout the sparring, her and Olia talked back and forth. It was usually Olia asking the questions, but Yuna always answered and returned them. It felt really nice.

By the end of class, they were huffing and puffing with the biggest smiles on their faces. 

“Alright everyone, time to pack up. Don’t forget to stretch at home! It will help with the soreness. Tomorrow, we will work on sparring.” Sifu Jean called. “Have a good night, everyone. You all did really well.”

Yuna and Olia looked at each other. “Are you coming tomorrow?” Olia asked.

Yuna’s heart dropped. She had almost forgotten that she might not even see Olia ever again. “We plan on trying.” is all she responded.

Olia took it as good news, though. “Great!” she exclaimed. She held her hand up for a high five and Yuna slapped it with a huge smile. 

“Maybe see ya tomorrow!” Olia called as she went to her other friends.

“See you!” Yuna said with a wave. 

“Oooooo!” Aruna grinned. “Yuna made a new friend! I’m so proud!” she said as she hugged Yuna in a very tight hug.

“Aruna, let me go.” Yuna whined as she struggled to get out of her arms. Once released, they both giggled. 

“Come on, the others are already outside.” Aruna said. “They thought you took too long.” 

At that, Yuna laughed. “I’m the one usually ahead, though?”

“Not this time!” Aruna giggled, jogging up and out the dojo.

Yuna sighed with a smile and jogged to catch up with Aruna.


	11. Chapter 11

The lady in blue sighs. All these meetings lead to the same old same old topic of “Who is my successor?”. 

Ronoju has his son from his wife, although they divorced a little while ago. She sees him always light up when the little one visits every other weekend. He isn’t old enough to start training yet, but he’s getting there. Ronoju is slowly introducing firebending to him already.

Anieran has a son as well. His wife is still in the picture, but they live separately so their son can have a normal school experience. This way, he can understand peace and how to make it when running a country. Anieran goes to visit every weekend and any other chance he can. The old airbender is proud of his son’s training in airbending, and not-so-subtly brags about it all the time.

Twohk always mentions his daughter, who is now 9 years old. He and his wife live together and are practically inseparable, so his daughter is always being taught some form of earthbending. He also spends extra time with his son, a firebender, just so he knows that he is valued just as much. Twohk is super excited for his daughter to take over when he no longer is able to run the country.

And Koa? Well, she has no one. She has dated many men, but never really has had too much of a connection to anyone to stay too long. Now, they are pressuring her to have an heir before she is not able. 

She leaves the meeting in deep thought, wondering what she is to do.

She could always adopt, she supposes. But she prefers someone in her bloodline, so that is the last resort, Koa decides, as she practically floats up the stairs to her study.

Koa thinks of her sister. She is younger, but would serve around the same length as Koa. So that would not work either, she thinks, while sitting down at her desk.

Putting her head on her hands, she thinks of her niece. She is 16 now, having her birthday being in June and it is the beginning of September. But, Koa thinks, she is a very talented waterbender who has proven herself to be very loyal to her family. 

Koa thinks back to a time where she taught her almost all she knows during the summer, and her visits always bring a new skill to show off. 

She grabs a pen and some paper.

She needs someone from her bloodline so she doesn’t become an embarrassment. A one time oligarch? Unheard of since Jiyayu was born. Koa knows that this is her best option.

She breathes in. Koa is sure she will accept.

Koa is also looking forward to seeing her again. She had not come yet this summer. 

She looks down at her letter, satisfied. She goes over the last sentences, over and over, before signing her name.

“I have gladly chosen you to be my successor, I know you will do well. Your training shall intensify. Well, as soon as you are home, of course.

Love, your Auntie Koa”

Her niece must accept. Koa doesn’t know what she will do if she doesn’t.

She opens a bird cage with her thin arm, watching as a red bird hops out. She rolls her letter up and gives it to the hawk, smiling.

Koa whispers the destination as the hawk jumps on her arm. She takes the firehawk to the window and opens it.

Trained Firehawks aren’t too common anymore.

She sets it free through the window, trusting it to carry her words.

Koa turns to a painting of her, her sister, and her niece. Her beautiful niece with honey brown eyes, who was pale for a waterbender, and had long brown hair. 

No, her niece wouldn’t fail her. 

Koa wouldn’t fail her either. 

She packs her stuff and goes to get her newest letter from her niece. In the sunsets light, she can see the handwriting she worked so hard on. Koa smiles.

Her footsteps can be heard as she leaves her study to go downstairs.

Her niece will be home soon. She had a lot to prepare for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw yeah it’s all coming together. Chapter 12 is the Book 1 finale! Are y’all ready?


	12. Notice!

Hey everybody, E here!

I’m so excited to announce we have an instagram now! It is @avatartheyouthsresistance !

Pretty easy to remember, right?

Anyways, I am super excited for the finale tomorrow and for y’all to see it. Also, sorry if this got your hopes up.

More information will be found on the instagram and tomorrow’s end of chapter notes. 

See you then!


	13. Chapter 13

Sakari’s honey-brown eyes bore into Aruna’s. She glared back.

“Fine, you win.” Sakari relented.

“Thanks, ‘kari!” Aruna smiled, hugging her super tight.

Aruna wanted to practice airbending after class and before leaving town. She needed it. She hasn't been able to meditate for forever, and airbending sometimes even less with her training. She was just so ready to use her home element again.

She let go of Sakari and the two caught up with Kai and Yuna as they went to the dojo. Aruna was so excited.

Today would be a great day.

—————————————————————

Aruna grabbed a mat from Olia, watching as she started up conversation with Yuna. Which was amazing. Yuna was usually very quiet, but she made a new friend and talked to them a lot. That was amazing.

Even if it did make her a little jealous. Maybe a lot jealous.

Aruna sat down on her mat. It’s fine. Yuna was having fun and Olia seemed super nice. If anything, she just wanted to get to know Olia more. Maybe she should ask Yuna about her? But, then again, they’re leaving today. If anything, Olia seemed not the type to run away.

She watched as Sifu Jean got up and started the stretching routine and she followed. The receptionist, who might be Ms.Tsyuki, Aruna couldn’t remember, asked him if her and her friends could pay by cleaning the dojo. Apparently, he said yes. Which was great! More training! But that also took away airbending training.

She sighed. That’s ok, there was always tomorrow.

She went into the splits position and smiled. Tomorrow. Tomorrow would definitely be great too.

—————————————————————

Sparring with Ren was hard. He was the student she was paired with, and she could feel the burn and could feel how, when she got more tired, her focus started to slip. It was mainly them taking turns dodging a punching but, geez, Aruna had to make sure not to accidentally airbend. Or bend at all.

That extra concentration did not fare her too well.

“Oof!” She was on her back, the wind knocked out of her.

“Uh.. you ok?” Ren asked awkwardly, extending a hand.

Aruna nodded and took his hand. “Just stunned.” she replied, giggling.

That would probably bruise later.

In her small free time to make sure she was ok, she looked around. Kai was dominating the small girl in front of them, having the biggest grin she had ever seen.

Yuna and Olia were doing pretty good as well, chatting back and forth. Yuna’s smile was super soft, actually. Aruna sighed. She wanted to be able to talk to Yuna more, too.

Her attention turned to Sakari, who seemed to be holding her own as well. Which was great! She really had her concentration face on, which reminded Aruna she was supposed to be fighting too.

Turning her attention back to her partner, she dropped into her stance and grinned.

—————————————————————

The 4 were sitting against the wall, gathering their breath before they started mopping and wiping down the place. This day was so much fun but she could tell that it was a workout for everyone.

As soon as Aruna caught her breath, she bounced back up. “Time to clean, guys. Let’s do this.”

She heard 3 responding groans and saw a dark figure in the corner of her eyes. She turned around and saw Olia.

“Hey, Olia!” she called.

Olia smiled back. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We’re cleaning the place.” Yuna responded, getting up off the ground.

“What are you doing here?” Kai asked, narrowing their eyes.

Olia chuckled. “I live here. Sifu Jean is my dad.”

That caused a couple wide eyes, but Aruna shook her head and replied “Cool! So you must be pretty good at fighting, huh?”

“Yeah, I am. Let me show you the brooms and mops.” Olia went to a closet, gesturing for the group to follow.

Yuna was the first to go, this time grabbing Arun and pulling Aruna along.

She chuckled at the weirdness of it all.

—————————————————————

They had been cleaning for 2 hours before Olia suggested a break at a local cafe. She even offered to pay, so the 4 looked at each other and nodded. A drink would be nice.

So here they were, Aruna sipping her Moon Peach Lemonade as Sakari had a cup of Jasmine tea. Yuna got a Green tea and Kai had gotten a soda of some kind, along with Olia.

It was a nice summer day and, for once, it wasn’t scalding hot. Aruna was glad for it, and was also glad they could sit in a town so freely. This peacefulness and sense of belonging had left a while ago. It’s been what, 2 maybe 3 months since they had left?

Aruna couldn’t believe it. She sipped more of her lemonade, smiling at hearing Sakari laugh so loudly. Yuna snorted at Kai’s joke as Olia was covering her mouth, giggling.

“This is nice.” she said.

The others agreed.

“It’s been nice to meet y’all!” Olia exclaimed. “We haven’t had too many newcomers.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Sakari said, Kai nodding along behind her.

“Yeah. Sort of disappointed we didn’t get any knife training, though.”

That sent everyone cackling.

“You brought that knife out of nowhere!” Aruna laughed. “If you wanted to, you could’ve stabbed me!”

“I still can.” Kai said, a small smirk on their face as they looked at the clouds.

Aruna stumbled on her words to find a safe reply before just hitting them on the shoulder. This sent more giggles throughout the group.

“Ouch!” Aruna’s hand flew to the side of her neck to find something there.

She yanked it out and stared at it as the others crowded around her. It was a dart. She could feel her neck starting to bleed too.

She looked over to her friends as someone else let out a yelp, feeling dread tickle down her spine. This was a new tactic.

Aruna got up only to tumble back to the ground again. She tried to look around again, confused and feeling panic consume her.

They should’ve left.

She tried to say something, anything, but even she couldn’t tell what she was saying. She needed the avatar state.

She felt everything start to go numb and saw black dots on the edge of her vision.

Her friends heard her say one last word before watching her pass out, as well as passing out themselves.

“Help.”

—————————————————————

Aruna groaned as she blinked her eyes open. Her head hurt. She hated it. Aruna closed her eyes and tried to bring a hand to her head to maybe soothe it, but her hands were behind her back. Why were they behind her back?

She also wanted her lemonade. She was thirsty. Aruna paused that thought process as she started thinking of what happened to her lemonade. She dropped it because… why? She didn’t feel good. She must’ve passed out. But why? Aruna has never had a history of passing ou-

Aruna’s eyes opened. The dart. She looked around and took in her surroundings. She was in a cell, feet and hands tied up. Yuna was directly across from her, not awake yet. Just like Kai, who was diagonally across from her. Both were separated. She could not see Sakari anywhere.

“Kai! Yuna!” she called. “Wake up!” she yelled. Her eyes were flitting back and forth between the two figures.

She looked around, wondering where Olia was. She was there when they were captured too, right?! Maybe she got away!

Hearing a groan from a cell to her right, her hopes sunk. Olia was here too.

Aruna looked around again and realized.

They had lost.

She scrunched her nose up and yelled. “HEY! WAKE UP!”

She ignored the tears starting to track down her face.

—————————————————————

“Aunt Koa, those are my friends!” Sakari pleaded, hurrying to catch up to her tall aunt. “Why are they in cells, of all things?!”

“Sakari, I get they mean a lot to you, but they are dangerous until proven loyal.” Koa said, stopping to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “They will be fine as long as they cooperate.”

Sakari stared up at her wide eyed, before nodding.

“Those letters you sent were super useful as well. I highly suggest a shower, though. A couple months in the wilderness is not the best for hygiene.” Koa lightly jokes.

Sakari nodded and smiled. “A shower.. would be nice.”

—————————————————————

Aruna had been yelling and demanding to know where Sakari was for an hour now. Yuna and Kai had woken up and responded a while ago. She should have heard from Sakari by now.

Aruna was so worried.

Kai, had automatically suggested using the avatar state to get out upon waking up while she heard Olia shift. She finally knew who this group of criminals were. Yuna, on the other hand, seemed petrified and was shaking.

Aruna yelled regardless of Kai’s suggestion and watched as she yelled her voice hoarse.

When she finally stopped, she looked down and sniffed.

“While the quiet is nice, don’t we need to get out of here?” Kai asked.

Aruna glared at them puffy eyed, before dropping her hostility completely. “Yeah.. yeah. Um, maybe we could.. metalbend our way out?” she thought out loud.

Yuna looked at her, looked at the bars, and nodded. “W-we could try.” she responded, voice shaking as much as she was.

“I thought you couldn’t bend.” Olia glared. Yuna winced in response.

Aruna looked at the metal. She went on her back and moved to where her legs were in front of her. Maybe she could kick it out. She looked over to Yuna and saw she was doing the same. Aruna took a deep breath in and nodded. She kicked as hard as she could.

Her eyes lit up when she heard the creak of metal. Looking back at the pole, she saw that hers was not dented. But Yuna’s was.

Yuna’s eyes were wide, like she couldn’t believe it. “Again.” Aruna said, while getting back in position. She made sure Yuna did the same.

Aruna and Yuna both kicked again. A pole went flying and clanged as it hit the ground as a different one creaked. Aruna grinned.

“Kai, burn her ropes off.” Aruna instructed. She kicked her bar again and watched as it was almost free.

Smoke filled the air as she finally got her pole out. Yes! She grinned and then wiggled to Kai so they could burn her ropes off.

“I’ll get Kai out. You get Olia.” Aruna looked back to Kai as they reached through the bars to burn her ropes off.

Once free, she got into a metalbending stance and hit the bar 3 times. Yuna then went in and broke the metal cuffs Kai had on.

She looked to Yuna and smiled, because she had been able to do her part too. Olia stood next to her, unsure of herself.

Aruna looked back to the door in front of her. Time to get out of here.

—————————————————————

_Sakari is 5 and is with her aunt. She giggles as her Aunt Koa makes a fish made of water swim around her, before splashing on top of her head._

She dries her hair off with a towel, thinking of how far she has come since then. She sighs. Aunt Koa wants her to be the next Oligarch, and she wants to. She wants to make the world better and the country better so her friends don’t hate it as much as they do now. Sakari considers not accepting, and doesn’t know what she would do with that option.

_Sakari is 6 years old when she first waterbends. She splashes the bullies of the local pool, before being taken out of the pool because of the “no bending” rule. Aunt Koa comforts her as she cries, and tells her that she is proud of her._

Sakari is brought out of her thoughts as she puts her clothes on. She pulls her hair back in a low ponytail before going to go see what the ruckus is.

She runs out into the garden in the middle of the Oligarch buildings to see her friends fighting off the police. Maybe even the military.

_Sakari and her aunt splash each other when learning the water whip, laughing._

She stares.

_Aunt Koa and her dance around the room. She is babysitting her, so what is more fun than a dance party?_

She sees Aunt Koa head to the fight, eyes determined.

_Aunt Koa watches the movie, Hachika, a sad polar dog movie, with her._

_Aunt Koa helped give her the signature hairstyle she always wears._

_Aunt Koa has chosen her as her successor._

Sakari follows.

—————————————————————

Aruna hears yelling. Everyone is struggling and she can see a master waterbender coming to join the fight. Oh yeah, they’re surrounded too!

She doesn’t know what to do! The avatar state is a whole mystery and she hasn’t mastered any element yet.

It occurs to her that they may be delaying the inevitable recapture of her story.

She sends another guy flying back with airbending, looking around for an opening. In her searching, she sees Sakari.

Who has water swirling around her.

Who’s hair is wet and who has new clothes on.

Who is running next to the famous Koa, the waterbending Oligarch.

Aruna stares and feels her face getting red. How could she? How could Sakari be with.. with them now?!

Aruna feels the familiar rush of power. She watches Sakari’s face, how it stares at her like it’s trying to communicate to her. She looks back to her other friends, fighting. Yuna is putting up shields on almost all sides now, while Kai is barely keeping anyone back. Aruna watches as Olia gets hit in the face, a bruise forming almost immediately under her eye.

She airbends another person away. She makes a pillar of earth rise and suddenly she's 30 ft up in the air. She can feel her eyes glowing.

Aruna gives in.

She watches as people stop fighting for a split second and feels her body raise an arm. The earth turns into the sea, rumbling and circling around, trapping all that it can.

Another arm is raised and the wind follows in volume. Her hair is going wild as air knocks more people down, hoping to knock them out long enough. Her right arm punches out and comes back just as quickly, making her earth pillar go to surface level. Well, maybe not surface level, for she lifts the ground into the air.

Her friends are the one of the only one’s not retreating right now. She can see Sakari and Koa standing there watching. Aruna looks away.

The avatar squats down to a horse stance and lowers both her arms down, flat palmed. She snaps back up and punches forwards.

Two things happen at once, the piece of rock swallows everyone on it to their waist, including Aruna, and the floating piece of rock goes flying.

The group of friends fly through the air and over the wall of the Oligarchy. The earth releases them as Aruna’s eyes go back to a familiar blue-ish grey. She smiles as her friends rush to help her up.

They run into the city and disappear into the night.

—————————————————————

Sakari cried. She cried for hours, having seen her friends fight, escape, and leave her. She wept for each look of utter hatred, anger, and disappointment they sent her. She did this and her aunt comforted her as much as possible.

_Sakari is 12. She has asked her aunt why she rarely ever gets haircuts. It’s strange, she says._

It’s been an hour since she had cried. She has her own room and she can practically hear Aruna’s voice laughing about how high class it is. She can hear Yuna giggling at her antics and can see Kai roll their eyes.

_Her aunt surprised her with her reply. “I cut my hair to show a personal change. It always comes with relief, because not all change originally comes with a visible mark.”_

In her hands, she has scissors. She looks at the mirror, her long hair staring back at her. Her friends had left without even giving this place the chance. She could have spoken to them, told them everything great about the Oligarchy! They could’ve celebrated her being her aunt's successor and could have finally had a good meal.

But they didn’t and Sakari had a job to do.

She cut her hair.

Once, for her family.

Twice, for the loss of her friendships.

Three times, for herself.

She could ask Aunt Koa to even it out in the morning. Tonight, she deserved rest. It’s been a long day.

(Tomorrow wouldn’t be better.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> As you all know, this is the last chapter for Book 1: The Runaways. The series will be on hiatus for a small while as I fix the outline for the story a bit and get all art out!
> 
> Art and extra information on when Book 2 will be out, the characters, etc. can be found on the new instagram, @avatartheyouthsresistance !
> 
> On my other instagram, @itz_me_drawz , you will be able to see how active I am and other projects I am apart of.
> 
> In the mean time, I might add a prologue describing the history of Jiyayu and how the 3 girls met. It depends on time.
> 
> I hope you’ve enjoyed!
> 
> Love you all,  
> E

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Art can be found on my instagram, along with updates on the series in general!  
> It is @itz_me_drawz or @avatartheyouthsresistance


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